How I was stuck in a ninja world by (the formerly) Hermione Granger En
by Miss Lily-Jolie
Summary: "I was 22 years old; I was young and thought I had plenty of time to spend with my loved ones, to find love or do all the things that Mrs. Weasley was pushing me to do. Now I was dead. Clearly, I was wrong." Hermione is dead. And now she is reborn in the ninja world... It only remains to her to adjust. And restart her life from the beginning.
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N: _**_Hi! This is the translation of my story, originally posted in French. English isn't my first language, so I hope I didn't totally screw up. Enjoy and don't hesitate to tell me what you think of it!_

_**Edit 11/11/19: **__Corrected some errors. Also, after a reread of my work, I think Hermione might be a little OOC, even if you count the reborn/raised differently thing._

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I felt like I was enjoying my life. Before I died, I had believed it sincerely.

Honestly, now, I could clearly see that I was wrong. I was 22 years old; I was young and thought I had plenty of time to spend with my loved ones, to find love or do all the things that Mrs. Weasley was pushing me to do.

Now I was dead.

Clearly, I was wrong.

Especially considering that my end had arrived in the most nonsensical way possible.

Because of my obsession with the job I was working on, a sensitive project for the Department of Mysteries. For six days. With hardly any pose for sleep.

Beginner error.

The explosion too.

Ha. Ha. _Ha._

I, Hermione Granger, the most intelligent witch of her generation, was dead because of a lack of sleep.

If they were not so sad, Harry and Ron would laugh at me.

Merlin, the Death Eaters who will learn it will not be bothered!

To top it off, I didn't even know where I was! Since the time I'm stuck in this in-between black and warm world, I have had time to meditate on my own foolishness, thank you, can we move on?

As I was about to list all the possibilities of life after death in different legends and religions I know of, the world around me shook.

I don't know how long it lasted, but after the trembling and feeling of pressure, then there was the blinding light and the choking sensation. It was as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of my lungs. The world around me had gone from complete darkness to a horribly bright blur.

But I still couldn't breathe.

Sudden pain brought me out of the panic in which I began to fall, and suddenly the air went through my lungs again.

I could hear in the distance the sound of a baby crying, loudly.

In my defence, it only took me a minute to understand and...

_Well, Merlin, crap._


	2. Chapter 2

_**Edit 11/11/19: **__Corrected some errors._

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—•—•—

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In hindsight, I realize that my first three years of life hadn't been... Put to great profit.

I literally had no idea of time; my traitorous body fell asleep at the slightest sign of tiredness. Whenever I was hungry, thirsty or soiled (I will erase all the memories of my parents changing my diaper, for my own sanity, thank you very much.) my strong, independent, adult brain found no other solution than to cry at full lungs.

Until then, nothing glorious.

However, I managed to glean some information about my situation. First, and probably most importantly, my name is Tanaka Michiko, and I was born in Konohagakure no Sato, a hidden village of shinobi.

Yeah, I know. Ninja.

Well, ok, after the wizards, I didn't really have the right to whimper. To be honest, I think I even took it a little too well...

Second things: I was no longer in my world, dimension, universe, call it as you want. Yes, okay, that's something I understood literally a second after the fact that I lived in a ninja village. But oh, I was only three years old and I needed to believe that I made countless discoveries!

To come back to the result of my incredible talents as an investigator... Okay, I just asked childish questions to my parents. But! You know how complicated it was to learn a new language at two years old?!

Oh, yes, something else. Nobody (like, literally NOBODY) speaks English here. The three notions of Japanese that I managed to glean from one of my college Unspeakable when I was Hermione allowed me to partly recognize the language, even though it was as different as similar.

So. Ninja.

When my mother took me to the park for the first time, I was taken aback by people travelling from roof to roof, climbing the walls as if they were walking on the ground. It was awesome, and I learned later that my father was a ninja too, and that, despite the status of civilian of my mother, they decided to live in a neighborhood almost exclusively shinobi.

And finally, that day, I learned the most important information of this new life. The most exciting too, and it only holds in one word.

Chakra.

If you asked me to choose, I wouldn't know what to say to you what, between Chakra and Magic, is the most interesting, exciting, impressive thing.

Seriously. Where there is a spell for almost everything, magic has its restrictions, its limits. The only limit of the chakra is the amount that your body contains. And, yes, it's impossible to clean the house or start dinner with the chakra.

But Merlin! We can do so much more! And, yeah, so much less.

But I decided to stop playing pros/cons, too afraid of ending up depressing for the loss of my magic.

After discovering the chakra, I decided to test the different meditations learned in the department of mysteries to learn to feel our magic. The sensation of the chakra crossing my body is so different from that of magic.

When the magic is a ball of energy located at the level of the heart that I handle unconsciously to use, the chakra crosses my whole body, and I could feel it in every limb, every muscle, every cell of me. There are hundreds of points across my body through which I can get it out, like little doors.

The first time I meditated, taken in my enthusiasm, I tried to get out my chakra through all these doors. Suffice to say that I bitterly regretted it.

I was ringed out for three days after that. My mother (oh sweet, innocent, civil mom) thought I caught a virus after our first trip to the park. Merlin, thank you, my father was out of the village for a long-term mission, and when he returned, I was already better, or he would have probably understood.  
It was after my third birthday that things started to become less redundant. My mother was less and less on my back. (Oh, the joy to live in a world where six-year-olds were allowed to brandish sharp objects.)

It's something I had to get used to. Having my mother on my back, I mean. John and Annabel Granger had been good parents; I never had to complain, especially when my life was compared to Harry's. But I had never had parents who clearly showed their affection for me.

And show their affection, Tanaka Satomi and Chiru didn't hesitate to do it. It was good. Something that the strong, independent and adult woman in me had taken some time to accept. It was sad that I realized after my death that I would have liked my parents to show me more clearly that I was loved.

Anyway.

Let's go back to my third birthday.

It was then that my mother began to let me explore the backyard alone. Well, yes, a garden isn't a very super dangerous training ground. But ours has bushes and trees. In other words, hiding places and leaves, tons and tons of leaves.

My father had promised that when I was older (yes, for my father, kids six years old are 'older'), he would teach me to have access to my chakra — I did not inform him of the aforementioned developments, thank you very much — and how to control it.

I watched him with my big lavender eyes _(And what a color! I was speechless the first time I saw it in my father's eyes!)_ and innocently asked him how one could do such a thing.

And he babbled for almost half an hour on the different exercises that he would have me do when I became tall and strong enough. But only if I eat all my vegetables! My mother looked at us with an exasperated expression, but I could see in her eyes that she found us adorable.

I think my father likes to hear the sound of his own voice. Sincerely, a child of three years normally constituted _(Without the brain of a 22-year-old witch, the smartest of her generation no less! The 'Incident' apart...)_ wouldn't have understood a quarter of the words he used.

Fortunately, for me, I'm not normally constituted.

So, I spent every little moment of intimacy training in the back of the garden. I started by gluing leaves on my forehead, my hands, my knees and holding them in place until my mother called me for dinner or I felt myself reach my limit. Always trying to push back that limit. I will not again feel the horrible sensation of my first experience with my chakra.

_(I was far from knowing it at the time, but by pushing my chakra reserves so far; as early as that had forced them to develop. The reserves of a child being horribly flexible. I didn't know either that, if I had been less cautious, I would have inadvertently killed myself.)_

At five, I finally managed to climb trees using my chakra, unfortunately I was far from getting there using only my feet, I was forced to use my hands too, but I took this advancement for what it was.

It was also at that moment that my parents made me seat in the living room, my mother sitting in front of me, a slight smile excited, although there was a slight tension around her eyes, and my father farther behind, leaning against the wall, frowning and arms crossed, his gaze fixed on the back of my mother as if he wanted to prevent her from talking to me but had already lost this battle.

I thought they were going to announce me of their divorce.

Instead, my mother opened her mouth to announce me, in an enthusiastic voice (although slightly over-playing) that the next semester, I would go to the pretty school, at the other end of the village, where I could meet new friends and learn lots of new things and where I could choose a job and learn everything I need to know about it.

Yeah, I did not see that one coming either. Since my father always talked about training me when I was older, I had always assumed that my parents understood that I was going to enter the Academy. To become a ninja.

Because, seriously. Me, Tanaka Michiko, formerly Hermione Jane Granger, witch who fought Lord Voldemort and his army side by side with Harry James Potter, a civilian?

Not when there were so many possibilities with the chakra!

So I looked in the impatient eyes of my mother, then in my father's neutral ones and, using all the talent of actress I didn't knew I have, I asked in the most innocent way 'how can I would have time to go with the Academy that will take all my days, should I go on weekends?!'

To say that she was surprised was a euphemism, but my innocent eyes got the better of her, and she finally capitulated, in a small voice, that no, I wouldn't have to go on weekends. After all, at the Academy too, I could make new friends.

And that was true, for the first two years of school.

We were only five girls for more than thirty boys, so we had to stick together. We helped each other, ate together and made fun of the boys, dumb enough to fight and hurt themselves unnecessarily. And okay, maybe I was acting too much like a child, considering the brain I inherited, but it was kind of fun to be accepted by the other girls at school, it never happened to me when I was Hermione.

Two of them left the Academy at the end of the first year. The other two at the end of the second.

Soon, I was the only girl to take classes to become a ninja.

You bet that my mother jumped at the chance to try to get me to stop. (And if she decided to talk about that when dad was on a mission outside the village, it was a total coincidence...)

The boys in my class didn't really care, all expecting me to give up, just like all the other girls. After all, for them, I had nothing special or extraordinary. (No way I pass again for the miss-know-it-all! And it was far more fun and complicated to be able to calculate the right amount of effort and good answers to put in the assessments to be an average student than to be the best student, because, yeah, I have no doubt that I can be the best.)

So, inevitably, many were surprised to see me at the beginning of the fourth year. Who am I kidding? The only one who was not surprised was the Nara who was sleeping in the back of the classroom. And despite the fact that this lazy bastard is always the dead last, I was certain that his academics results was as valid as mines. That's to say.

Despite the newly gained pseudo-respect of my peers, my habits didn't change. I was not antisocial in the true sense of the word, let's say that I was everyone's and anyone's friends.

And with that, my time at the Academy has gone without stopping, and here I am today.

My hitae-ate tightly tied around my forehead, I sat in the back of the classroom waiting patiently for my teacher, who will announce our teams, eyes lost on the three faces carved on the Hokage Mountain.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Edit 11/11/19: **__Corrected some errors._

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Eyes fixed on the stone face of the third (_Seriously, are the proportions true to the original?_) I was thinking about what my team might look like.

When I asked my father last night, after graduation, he explained to me that usually the top kunoichi of the class was teamed with the top shinobi and the dead last. Being the only kunoichi of my class, even with my note carefully in average, I was necessarily the top one. The question was whether they will use this method or not...

If so, my teammates were pretty easy to guess. The best of the class is Yamashiro, but Aburame is not far behind and may have passed him on the final exam. And as for the dead last, Nara always makes sure that his notes are just the right amount of good answers to pass (Which requires less effort than what I do. This lazy bastard just filled a quarter of his papers before returning to his damn nap!) but Inuzuka is only a little above his notes.

My thoughts — and all the excited chatter of my comrades — cut off when Gako-sensei entered the class."Well. Here we are, we have given you your hitae-ate, marked with the symbol of your village, of our village. Wherever you go from here, you will do it by representing the shinobi of Konoha. Soon, when your Jōnin-sensei decide that you are ready, you will leave the walls of this village, and with that the protection they offer you. The dangers that reign outside are in no way comparable with what you could have lived until then. You have finished being children, now you are ninjas of Konoha. War can break out anytime, and it is your behaviour that can make the difference between the life and death of a comrade."

His eyes scanned each of us, his expression heavy and severe, before softening slightly. "Whatever it comes from now on, know that I was proud to be your Sensei, and I'm proud to see you all arrived so far. Now I will call the teams."

Listening to Gako-sensei only with half of my attention, I look down on the book that hangs open on my table. I was working on it before my curiosity and thoughts distract me from it. It's a book about Fūinjustu, an extraordinary art that caught my eye the first time dad took me to the shinobi library of Konoha. It's so similar to the rune work that I studied in my other life that I had to be interested in it. Unfortunately, for me, the writings available to the students of the Academy weren't so numerous, and I quickly read them all. (And if it happened to dad to borrow books genin-level that he inadvertently forgot on the living room table, who am I to point out his mistakes?) Which explains the detour I made this morning by the library, proudly wearing my headband.

"Team 4: Yamashiro Aoba, Nara Ensui, Tanaka Michiko; Team 5: Inuzuka-"

I turn my eyes towards Aoba, whom I spotted in the middle of the class earlier during my daydreaming, and notices that he was looking in my direction and gives me a big smile and a wave of his hand. I respond to his sign with a grin. After a second, during which the poor boy slowly loses his smile, I breathe silently and give a well-placed elbow in the gut to the Nara supposedly asleep next to me. "Ensui!"

Without lifting his head, he murmured a '_troublesome_' and made an arm move in the general direction of Aoba. I don't even try to stop the exasperated look I share with our teammate.

I'm happy with my team, even without knowing who my Jōnin-sensei will be. I get along pretty well with Aoba, who is naturally happy (sometimes maybe a little too much) and isn't at all arrogant despite being the best of the class for three years now. And for Ensui, he's probably the closest thing to a real friend I have in this life, I spend most of my breaks with him, to read while he has a nap. He even taught me how to play Shogi, he crushes me miserably every time, but I improve every time and hope to win against him someday.

Finally, Gako-sensei leave us for lunch, asking us to come back afterwards to meet our Jōnin-sensei. Putting my book in my shoulder bag, I grab Nara by his collar and drag him behind me in the direction of the third member of our team. "We eat lunch together?"

Aoba nods with a slightly mocking smile in the direction of our teammate. Ensui doesn't even bother to react, used to this treatment since I got used to having lunch with him.

All three of us were seated in the grass under the shade of a big tree. After eating, I put away my empty bento in my bag and lie on the floor between the two boys, raise my legs and put my feet flat on the tree trunk. I'm so happy that the skirt is not a mandatory, to the displeasure of my mother, I stopped wearing them years ago.

"So, guys, in your opinion, who will be our sensei?"

"I don't have any idea. But honestly, whoever it is, it suits me fine, as long as they trains us seriously."

I nod my head against the grass, screwing a little more my bun (My mother insisted on combing my hair today, and since it's thanks to her that I have so pretty hair in this life, I reluctantly agreed.) while Ensui keep silent and eyes closed. Aoba look at him to the side, I think he's worried the Nara doesn't like him. "Don't worry, in Nara it means he agrees."

I am gratified by a questioning look from Aoba and a slight arched eyebrow of Ensui. "Hey! I learned to extrapolate; I never manage to extract more than necessary of him!"

Ensui finally sigh. "Let's go back to class..." That gets my attention. Ensui is curious to know who is our sensei? "It's getting too cold for my nap here." Yeah, what I was thinking too.

I get up with a light laugh, and we all go to our classroom.

We all sat down in the same row at the back of the class, Ensui went back to sleep, Aoba was tapping his fingers on the desk, looking out the window, and me, I pulled out my book _'Fūinjustu: design, mechanics and methodologies._'

The thing with Fūinjustu is that before you can create your own style and your own seals, you must know some keys, essential for all seals. After a certain level of mastery, it is possible to personalize these keys or even to invent them, but I am still far from it and must for the moment content myself with learning them. There are really, really a lot of symbols.

Finally, the lunch break ended, and Gako-sensei came back accompanied by other ninja. Putting back my book again, I lean slightly on my chair, waiting. The Jōnin-sensei of Teams one, two and three call their students and leaves the room.

"Team Four." The man calling for us is tall, a Hyūga at his eyes, with long black hair. He is dressed in a black classic Jōnin uniform, his green flak jacket is the only source of colour in his outfit and he wears his black hitae-ate around his forehead. Sincerely, he looks like all the Hyūga I met in the streets of Konoha.

Arriving in the yard, he stops abruptly and turns to us. After a second to let us recover from his sudden stop, he opens his mouth. "I am Hyuga Hizashi, I have read your files, I know your names. I dare to hope that after six years in the same class, you, at least, know this information on each other. See you tomorrow at seven o'clock on training ground four. I will not tolerate any delay. Dismissed."

And he disappeared with a Shunshin.

"Uh... Okay." I watch Ensui, then Aoba. None of them look better than me. "...What's going on?"

"What a drag..." Wow, the whole sentence. This is serious.

"I think Hizashi-sensei isn't very happy to have to deal with a genin team..."

After another five minutes to stare at the place where Hizashi-sensei was, I finally shrug my shoulders. "There is nothing we can do until tomorrow. A snack? My threat!" Dad gave me money this morning, telling me to use it to spend time with my teammates and getting to know them.

"Uh... we just finished lunch Michiko-san..."

"There's no time for dango Aoba! And just Michiko it's fine, we're teammate now!" I grab the two boys by the wrist and pull them behind me towards the village.

I rather like this teammate story very much.

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When I open my eyes the next day, it's six o'clock and I go directly to the shower, smiling at the memories of yesterday. After the dango, we ended up exploring Konoha all three of us to get to know each other. Ensui complained, but still followed us. (Although at the end, Aoba and I had to pull him by the wrists to make him walk.) And in the evening, we shared dinner at one of the Akimichi barbecues. (Ensui's head when the waitress had pinched his cheeks to congratulate him for becoming a genin. Priceless!)

After getting dressed, I inspect myself in my foot mirror. This is the first time I put on this outfit, which I bought last week with my mother in anticipation of this day. It's nothing extravagant, a pair of tight black shorts just above my knees and a black tank top with an outer mesh lining, which I covered with a red combat kimono that arrives mid-thigh, about ten centimetres above the end of the shorts, closed by a white obi on which I hang the iron plate of my hitae-ate. My weapons pouch was on my hips and my kunai pouch tightly fixed on my tight with bandages.

A faint smile on my lips as my eyes inspect my outfit, Hermione would never put a foot outside dressed like that.

Finally, I catch all my hair to braid it on the right side of my head, leaving it resting on my shoulder. After my entry to the Academy, I didn't let my mother cut me a bang, despite her insistence that my forehead was slightly too big for the proportions of my face, because it always ended up getting into my eyes in Taijutsu class.

I enter the kitchen five minutes later, my parents both already at the table. "'Morning." I kiss each of them, grab two sticks of dango that Dad had to have bought this morning and head for the entrance. "Must go. I have an appointment in ten minutes. Love you, bye."

They did not even beat an eyelash, used to my behaviour in the morning. I put on my ninja boots, which stop mid-calf, and leave home.

My house being the one further away from the training ground, we agreed yesterday that I would be the one who would take Aoba and then, both of us will take Ensui. To say that the Nara was happy not to be the one who had to get up earlier was an euphemism.

Arriving in front of Aoba's house, I'd finished my dango and my mood was slightly better.

"Yo." I said slightly.

"Hey!" Oh, Merlin, why so much energy in the morning? "Hello Mi-Chan!"

No comment. Ensui called me like that when I called him a slacker one too many times. Aoba obviously loved it. I just look at him in a deadpan.

"Oookaaay. Obviously not a morning person eh... Let's go get Ensui!"

Surprisingly, when we arrive at the entrance of the Nara compound, Ensui is already outside, leaning against one of the walls. He gestures at the two guys — probably his clansmen — posted at the entrance and walks towards us.

"My mother threw me out." His tone is flat. Aoba and I share a mocking laugh.

The path to the training ground 4 is fast, and we arrive there five minutes early, but Hizashi-sensei is already there.

"Well, at least you're punctual." Wow, how sympathetic. "I'm going to be honest; I have no desire to become the Jōnin-sensei of three genin just out of the academy." I share a look with my teammates, not sure what that means. "If I had a way to escape this completely, I would not deprive myself. Unfortunately, Hokage-sama insisted that I took at least one of you as an apprentice. Which, I don't care, I think you're all as incompetent as the other. So, I decided to take one of you who will be the most deserving." He took a scroll from the pouch hanging on his hip. "It's the apprenticeship contract that I signed, there is only one space left for a name. Whoever succeeds in taking it will be able to sign it."

And with that, he disappeared with a Shunshin.

What?

But…

I love my team!

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**_A/N: _**_Little clarification, Ensui and Aoba are existing characters, I just added four years to Aoba's real age. Also, I fell in love with Ensui after reading the stories of GremlinSR (on AO3, they're great you should read them!) where he's Shikaku's brother. I know that's not true, but I decided to still make him his brother in this story._


	4. Chapter 4

Yoo… Long time no see… Sorry for the wait, personal problem + writer's block isn't a good mix. Hope you love the chapter!

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Crouching on a tree branch, his chakra so much hidden it would make the Nidaime look twice, Hyūga Hizashi was watching the three Genin the Hokage wanted him to take.

A Nara, the only student with both parents' civilian who graduate and the only Kunoichi of that year.

Of course, the three of them had potential. Ensui was a Nara, the son of the Clan's Head and little brother of the heir. There wasn't much more to say, he had the intelligence of his clan but, unfortunately, the laziness that come with it.

Yamashiro Aoba, despite his civilian background, was the Rookie of the Year and showed a talent in Genjutsu that was promising.

And for Tanaka Michiko, although she was careful, her teachers had noted the accuracy with which she chooses her answers to be in the middle of the ranking. And she had a promising interest in Fūinjutsu. In fact, Hizashi was thinking about introducing her to Uzumaki Kushina. If they pass his test, of course.

Honestly, Hizashi wasn't _against _the idea of a Genin team, on the contrary even, he knew that he had just some years before his brother made him take all his responsibilities as the head of the branch house. When that would be done, Hizashi knew that he wouldn't have the time, or even the _right,_ to take a Genin team.

Burying his negative feelings his thought raised, he concentrates again on his would-be Team.

He'll not let his feeling influence his decision and the test. If those children couldn't work like a team, he wouldn't be the one to lead them to their dead because of his selfish desire to have a Team.

His hearing and his sight enhanced with chakra, Hizashi waited for a reaction.

Two long minutes had passed since he had left them when the Nara talked again. "No way I took an apprenticeship. Too troublesome." Hizashi almost couldn't stop his sneer, he should have seen it coming. "You can keep it; I'm going to take a nap."

"What? But…" Yamashiro seemed lost. "Could he do that? Take only one of us?"

Before the Nara could answer, Tanaka snapped. "Who care if he can or not! Merlin! I love that team! I'm not letting him split us!"

The Nara smiled, but Hizashi could see some sadness? Regret? "Troublesome. I don't think you could do anything about that, Mi-chan."

Her shoulders drooped and she closed her eyes, her mouth slightly open, like ready to let out the first idea she would have.

"We could… We could ask for another Sensei…" Before the hope could bright in Tanaka's eyes at Yamashiro's idea, Nara took upon himself to reasoned them.

"My dad help Hokage-sama to put the team together, all the Jōnin who could take a team had one."

But the idea had already made its way in Tanaka brain. "So what? We could wait the end of the next cycle! We will ask to stay as a team, I'm sure that they wouldn't say no."

Well, that was an interesting development.

Nara looked in the girl's eyes, "you know that they will take our hitae-ate back? We would be Academy's student again for the next six months."

But Hizashi could see that his stance had changed, he wasn't against the idea.

The sole girl just looked toward their third teammates. Who smiled and shrugged one shoulder, "don't look at me like that, Mi-chan, I was the Rookie of the Year. Six months, I will be okay."

They shared a knowing glance and smiled. "So, you're sure? Mi-chan? Aoba? We go ask Hokage-sama?"

And while Hizashi thought he will hear a collective 'yes' and was ready to go back and told them they passed his test, Tanaka surprised him again.

"Oh no, not yet. That Hyūga prick with a stick Merlin-know-where called us _incompetent_. I want us to catch his bloody scroll and shove it to join his stick!" She hits her palm with her fist, shaking her braid. "When we will ask for another Sensei, I want him to know it's because we don't _want him_ and not because we _can't_!"

A part of Hizashi couldn't help his silent mocking laugh, that was childish but, the personality he had chosen was greatly (totally) inspired by his brother. Her description was extraordinary.

The other part, the one of the 21 years old, mature Shinobi he was, wondered if the girl was manipulating her teammates to take the scroll and have the apprenticeship.

He looked at the boys to see what they were thinking.

Nara was slightly panicking. "What?! Mi-chan, please, it's too troublesome."

The other two shared an exasperated look before looking at him again. "Okay, what do you want?"

In an instant, the features of Nara Ensui go to wailing to victorious. "A month of Shogi. No matter what you do, if it's on your time off I ask you play."

She squinted at him for less than ten seconds. "Two weeks."

"Deal." The fact that he agreed without further negotiation let now to all the witness that he would have taken even less.

"Aoba?"

"It's a Jōnin, and he has the Byakugan. We are unlikely to succeed… But its cost nothing to try."

Well, after all, if he wants to test his theory about Tanaka, he'll have to let her take the scroll. And he could judge their skills.

Wanting to let them surprise him, he left before he could hear their plan, heading to the center of the training ground.

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—•—•—

* * *

I know that I had a big mouth, I really do, and totally blame my father for that. Even if Hermione wasn't the quiet type either. And now that my teammates were looking at me, expecting that I will have the perfect plan to defeat a Jōnin, I'm really regretting it.

"Ok, you got me," I said with a sigh, looking at Ensui's raised eyebrow. "I don't know how we can manage it. But! You know that we have to try, don't you?!"

I blinked innocently at Ensui, knowing that he will, at least, have an idea. He breathed heavily and looked at Aoba, exasperate. "Mi-Chan, I don't know him, I don't know his strength or weakness, how do you want me to come with a plan?"

"I said we attack and hope for the best." We both looked at Aoba, Ensui not sure if it was a joke, but I was already accepting that "plan", and they both saw my expression changing.

"You can't be serious?!" Ensui shouted, but I just smiled at him, showing more teeth than strictly necessary.

Back when I was Hermione, Harry always said that every plan we can make will just blow away anyway so, no plan is a good plan.

"We know our respective strengths; we just have to use that. Ensui, you can use your Clan Jutsu very well even if you can't keep it for long, Aoba and I will just have to distract him until you grab him." My head was traveling between my two teammates, that plan sound pretty good to me, no?

"Okay, but only if we split up before we try to attack, I'm sure that will give us more chance to touch him."

"Yeah, yeah, no problems! Aoba? You good with that?"

The boy's eyes were widened, I'm almost sure they'll just fell from his face if he stays like that any longer. "That... was just a joke..."

Ensui closed his eyes, desperate, but I just grinned. "But an awesome plan! Let's go guys!"

I'm not expecting us to grab that scroll. Like they said, he was a Jōnin, a Hyūga's ones, he was way out of our league, but I really want to experience a little of our teamwork before we're all put back in the Academy.

Do some Ninja stuff with them, before going back to the boring life, and have to hand back the little metal plate, to what I was already too much attached.

I think that Ensui know that, or suppose it, at least, and that was why he agreed so easily. I think that he loves that team too, we all do, and that just serve to make my anger against that stuck up Hyūga grow.

After a few minutes to find Hyūga (I'm not calling him Sensei!) we finally spot him in the middle of the training ground. He was standing here, in a large clearing, staring in the space in front of him. Of course, with his Dōjutsu, he could be staring right at us for all we know.

Clearly, he didn't take us seriously. Standing like that in the open, waiting for us like we were some incompetent children (that his thought, when I think about it). He really didn't care who will have the apprenticeship.

"He probably already knows that we're here." Ensui said while we're all crouching behind a bush, and none of us will refute it.

"Anyway, with his eyes, we wouldn't have had the element of surprise. We just have to go with the flow." I look at both of them and sigh. "Look, boys, even if we couldn't take that scroll from him, I'm happy to have you at teammates. And I would happily suffer the next boring months to keep that team."

Aoba raise his head to look at me above Ensui, who was between us, his eyes were bright, and his lips were curled in a little smile. "Me too, Mi-Chan. And don't be a Genin didn't mean we can't train together!"

How he did to whispers all that but still made me feel like he had screamed it.

Ensui just close his eyes, and sigh a "troublesome..." That made me smile, in my opinion, that means 'me too'.

"So... I take left, Aoba, you take right. Ensui... Just stay here until you got an opening." I smile at them, again with too many teeth. "Hope you're ready to suffer for it."

And suffer, we did. The next ten minutes consisted of vain tentative from Aoba and me to hit, or just _touch_ really, Hyūga. And the man didn't hold back when he hit back. After the millionth times we had hit the ground, we shared a look and decided to switch for long ranged attack. I knew Aoba had a crack for Genjutsu, but he needed the time to concentrate his chakra.

Grabbing my shuriken, I kept throwing them at the Jōnin, to draw his attention to me. For their credit, Aoba was really quick to cast his Genjutsu, and Ensui strikes with his shadow almost instantly. And he catches him.

But I swear to Merlin, I saw him break the Genjutsu _before_ the shadow catch him.

Ensui made him move to grab the scroll and throw him in my way, and I grab it unconsciously. Then, Hyūga was freed by my teammate as soon as his job was done.

I share another look with my teammates, and I know that they think like me. It was too easy, too quick. That didn't seem like we had fought against a Jōnin. Merlin, some of my spares at the Academy had been longer!

My eyes land on that bloody scroll, heavy in my hand, and I glare at Hyūga. "You let us have it. You were just playing with us; I saw you break the Genjutsu before Ensui catch you."

His damn face as blank as before, his pupilless eyes stared at me. "I said it before, I don't have time to lose and I don't care which one of you sign it." Then, his lips curled in the most patronizing smirk I have ever seen (Malfoy's included!). "Look like you win, I must have underestimated you. You have successfully manipulated your teammates to help you."

I can't help the anger who rose in after his word and take a step toward him, despite knowing that he could crash me without even crumple his clothes. An arm around my waist stop me from that, and I turn my head to see Aoba, with a little smile.

He knows, of course, that Hyūga word weren't true and, in the end, that the only thing that matter.

"Bold of you to assume that either of us will want an apprenticeship under _you_." I said, looking again in Hyūga eyes. "We would rather spend another cycle at the Academy than be split up because you're too lazy to teach us, as a team."

He looked at me without emotion, that almost creepy, then at Aoba, who was still standing beside me but no longer grabbing me, and Ensui, who let himself lies on the grass beside Aoba. "Are you sure? I'm not keeping that offers, when you hand back your hitae-ate, that the end. You'll no longer be a Ninja."

"Until we graduate from the Academy, again, in six months." Aoba's voice was firm, no doubt lacing it. Ensui just waved his hand distantly, not opening his eyes.

"Well, as you wish." His eyes flew over us a last time, like waiting for one of us to break and change our mind. That wasn't happening. "If you're so sure... You pass."

I blinked, suddenly not sure about my hearing. Even Ensui sat up, as shocked as us by Hyūga words. Aoba gaped a second, before voicing our thoughts, "uhh... What?"

He smiled, a real smile. His face was a thousand time prettier with just that smile, and I realized that he was much younger that I had first thought. "With the actual tension between us, Kumo and Iwa, out there is a dangerous place. And, even if nobody like to think about it, a war could break at any moment, without much notice. I'm not taking a Genin team if that mean tossing unprepared people in the crossfire. As Konoha Shinobi, you need to know that your comrade is your greatest force. And letting them down because of your selfishness don't make you a good Shinobi, a good _person_. I can improve your skills; I can't force you into a comradeship." His voice was soft and lacked the disdain it had before, he was no longer a prick and I suddenly understand that he played us from the beginning. "Open the scroll."

Startled, I looked at him with widened eyes, before remembering what scroll he was talking about. Ensui, who was now standing, and Aoba looked over my shoulders to see the open scroll too.

It was blank.

"I never planned to take an apprentice, if one of you had opened the scroll, you'll have failed. Teamwork, that what this is about. I would have told you so in the woods, when you planned to drop the test but..." His smile just widened when he saw our shocked expression. "I didn't know if Michiko-chan really wanted to _'catch his bloody scroll and shove it to join his stick'_ or if she was just manipulating you. That's why I let you have it."

I opened my mouth a few times, my cheeks burning from embarrassment, before I finally talked. "So... We pass..."

Hizashi-_sensei _chuckles, "yes, you pass. Congratulations Team 4."

I couldn't stop the shrill shrike I let out before jumping in the unprepared arms of my two teammates. "We're a Team! Guys!"

Aoba laugh and Ensui sighs, but I know that they are as excited as me.

"What about you go home announce the new to your family, and we meet up at 6pm tonight at Yakiniku Q to know each other and talk about your training schedules?"

I bounced on my feet. "Yes Sensei! See you tonight Sensei!" I grabbed my teammates' wrist and runs out of the training ground.

* * *

—•—•—

* * *

The Hokage's office was crowded with the twelve Jōnin who were picked to become, maybe, Jōnin-sensei this year. After studying the files of the Academy's students, Hiruzen wasn't expecting more than four 'yes', five if one was generous.

The three first 'no' weren't surprising, and he turned towards Hyūga Hizashi with an open interest. "Team Four?" The three children were extremely promising, and he hoped that they would be good to Hizashi on the long term. Well, if the young Jōnin passed them.

"I believe that Team Four has a lot of potential and, after a righteous test, I decided to pass them."

Hiruzen features clearly showed his pleasure at the statement. "Good, good. I'm sure you'll all benefit a lot from this experience." He accentuates his sentence with a grandfatherly smile and turned toward the next Jōnin. "Team Five?"

* * *

—•—•—

* * *

When I opened the door of my home, it was not long after noon. Mom and Dad were both in the kitchen, and dad looked at me with a knowing glaze. I couldn't help but gap at him. "You knew about the test!"

He chuckled and placed a plate in front of an empty chair. "Of course, I knew, but I couldn't tell you, could I? You needed to pass it on your own. And not every Jōnin test the same thing, some test the teamwork, other chose to test the skills. What was your Jōnin choice? And who is it?"

I sat beside my father, noticing how my mom shoulder were tense and how she wasn't facing me since I entered the kitchen. She loves me, I know it, but she never truly accepted my choice to follow my father path in the Shinobi career. I could understand, really, she doesn't want to see her ten years old daughter to fought or _kill._ But that will not stop me from continuing. I can't stay a civilian, and neither can I tell her that I'm not _really _ten years old or how Hermione had already killed.

"It's Hyūga Hizashi, and he chose to test our teamwork. And we were awesome! Hizashi-sensei want us to meet him at Yakiniku Q tonight."

Dad _hmm_'ed thoughtfully, "I've heard of Hizashi. Never worked with him though. But he tested teamwork, it's a good thing." He looked quickly at Mom, and I knew that they probably argued again about me while I was gone. "I know you'll be safe with him Michi-chan."

I knew that the words weren't for me, but I only smiled and do as if I thought they were. "I know dad, I think too."

I ate as quickly as I could without choke myself before I stood, tired by the tense atmosphere. "I'll be in my room. Read a little, you know…" I kissed my dad and got upstairs quickly. My mom doesn't turn from the dishes she was cleaning once since I entered the kitchen.

Trying to not think about that, I reached my room as I put a leave out of my hair. I need a shower. Deciding to put a pajama, even if I would have to change tonight, I opened my closet and get my stuff.

When I entered my bathroom, a bag was beside my sink. Putting my stuff on a chair, I opened it slowly to see the content. I sighed when I saw the shampoo and conditioner my mom certainly brought that morning. _Strawberry_ shampoo and conditioner. I know that I'm not going to have a _dangerous _mission tomorrow, of course, but, at my Academy's teacher's advice, I began to use _scentless_ shampoo, conditioner and shower gel years ago. That stuff could make the difference between dead and alive one day, and I'm better prepared.

But my mom doesn't really love the idea.

I closed the bag and put it under my sink, I need to remember to take it to Akiko-chan (again) when I have some time. She had left the Academy years ago and was the only one with whom I was still talking because she was my neighbor. Both her parents were Shinobi.

I looked at my face in the mirror beside me. I should be happy! That was a great day!

I decided to stop thinking about my mom, she wasn't going to change her mind and there was nothing I can do about that. But today I became a Shinobi! I smiled again and prepared to shower.


End file.
